AJC Remembers 1993 Firebombing Attack on Turkish Women in Germany

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May 29, 2013, 01:14 ET

NEW YORK, May 29, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC recalls the horrific attack on Turks in Germany that took place 20 years ago today. Five Muslim women perished in a hate-inspired firebombing of a house in Solingen, near Cologne.

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David Harris, AJC executive director, traveled specially from New York to attend the funeral at a mosque in Cologne. He was joined by an AJC staff colleague, Eugene DuBow. AJC was the only Jewish group from outside Germany in attendance.

"I am neither a Turk nor a German nor a Muslim, but an American Jew profoundly concerned with the evil of crimes inspired by hatred based on so-called 'differentness' or 'otherness' wherever they may occur," Harris said in Cologne. "I stand with you today on behalf of AJC. As we are taught in Judaism, we are all - all of us - created in God's image."

Five years later, AJC opened an office in Berlin, the first American Jewish organization to establish a permanent presence in Germany. Outreach to the Turkish community in Germany has been one of the pioneering and high priority programs of AJC Berlin.

"AJC is forever determined to combat acts of hatred and racism, whether they are against Jews or other vulnerable communities," said Harris. "Today, recalling the 1993 fatal attack on the five Turkish women in Germany, and remembering the victims, strengthens still further our resolve to build ties of understanding and mutual support with other ethnic and faith groups, and together stand up to those who are consumed by hatred of others."

SOURCE American Jewish Committee